A THUG who started fires at two houses and carried out brutal attacks on an ex-partner and a man during a "week of mayhem" has been jailed for nine years.

Brian Stephens confessed on Facebook to sparking the blazes which included a property where children were sleeping.

The 31-year-old was eventually arrested by armed officers before he stated to them: "I stabbed a c*** up the road and blew up houses. I just want my bed."

The first of the fires occurred at a block of flats in Irvine, Ayrshire in the early hours of July 9, 2022.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Stephens had an issue with a man who lived there.

Stephens went on to set alight this person's door - although he was not in at the time.

A neighbour luckily became aware of smoke in the close and dialled 999.

It meant the only damage was to the front door itself.

The court was told Stephens was later in contact with an associate on Facebook.

Referring to the man, Stephens remarked: "He's not got an address in Irvine now. I set it alight, ha ha."

He then struck again on July 12 at a house in Beith, Ayrshire, where a woman awoke to find her door on fire.

She was staying there at the time with two young children.

Stephens had claimed she had been "interfering" in a relationship he had with a woman.

The court heard he had sent her a Facebook message threatening: "Wait till you see, your house will be on fire".

On then discovering a blaze, Prosecutor Lorraine Glancy KC said: "She could see that the house was filling with smoke.

"She could not get out the front door. The woman used water from a mop bucket to put the fire out."

It emerged a dish towel - which appeared to be soaked in petrol - had been jammed in her letterbox.

Later that day, police were alerted to Stephens being armed with a knife and acting aggressively while walking down the middle of a busy road in Irvine.

A man he knew happened to be in the same area at the time. There was no history of animosity between them.

But, the court heard out of "sheer anger" Stephens turned on him stabbing the victim on the head and body.

He ended up with a punctured lung, a fractured rib and injuries to his hand.

Firearms officers stopped Stephens that afternoon.

Among other remarks he then made were: "I admit everything. I done wrong."

"Tell them to charge me. Tell them 10 attempted murders."

The court was told that before the fires and the stabbing, Stephens had battered an ex-lover, who ended up unconscious during an attack in Arbroath, Angus on July 4.

Stephens pleaded guilty to two charges of wilful-fireraising as well as two aggravated assaults.

Brian McConnachie KC, defending, said: "All of these charges took place over a short period of time.

"It was ultimately a week of mayhem as far as Mr Stephens was concerned."

The defence advocate said Stephens did not know there were children inside one of the properties he started a fire at.

Lord Clark also ordered Stephens to be monitored for three years on his release.

Sentencing, he added: "The fireraising was clearly premeditated. This was a bizarre series of deeply disturbing actions by you."